Franz Kafka: Local Readings
International Workshop
Israeli, Palestinian und German Perspectives
6. Dezember 2024 I 9 - 16 Uhr
In one of his latest notes, written while living in Berlin-Steglitz (1923-1924), Franz Kafka describes a hometown with empty streets and an empty Great Bazaar with a large café with no guests but open for visitors. The Great Bazaar - an Orientalist trope, presented by Kafka as an empty sign, can be considered as an opening, a place for future readers of different localities to gather for a conversation. In the century since his death, the openness of Kafka’s writings invites a colorful/diverse and rich market of interpretations, receptions, and translations that correspond, enrich, and sometimes contradict each other. This workshop invites us to examine how one reads Kafka from a local perspective; what the differences are between reading Kafka in Munich, Prague, Jaffa, Jerusalem-Al Quds, Istanbul, or Shiraz, can Kafka’s enigmatic stories while epitomizing the spirit of Weltliteratur, afford a place for different cultures to meet, read, and discuss together, in times of great crisis?
The workshop will include a series of conversations between scholars from different disciplines and localities. At the center of each conversation will stand one or two short stories or paragraphs from Kafka’s writings and their reception among different cultures. An open discussion will follow each conversation.
The workshop is organized under the umbrella of the Guest Professorship for Arabic-Jewish Coexistence, which aspires to promote dialogue and awareness of the shared history and present of the two people.
Participants:
Ido Fuchs Tel Aviv University
Andreas Kilcher ETH Zurich
Zahiye Kundos Guest Professor for Arab-Jewish Coexistence, LMU Munich
Martina Niedhammer Collegium Carolinum Munich
Noga Resh ETH Zurich
Galili Shahar Brodt Guest Professor, LMU Munich
Ghilad H. Shenhav LMU Munich
Loaay Wattad Tel Aviv University
